United States President Donald Trump said Sunday morning that an American soldier who went missing after his F-15E jet was downed in Iran has been rescued by observers following a dramatic shootout between Iranian and American rescue forces.
The US and Iran had been racing to find the airman for nearly two days, with Tehran calling on the public to turn the soldier over to authorities in what appeared to be an attempt to capture an American prisoner of war as the US-Israel war over Iran entered its 37th day.
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Analysts say this scenario could give Tehran a significant victory amid ongoing oppression in its region and would be a surprise blow to Washington. This, he says, could have been the moment when parts of Trump’s support base, which had so far supported the war, began to reconsider their stance.
“It was a big test for the US military because they really didn’t want to leave any of their troops behind enemy lines,” Amin Saikal, a professor of Middle East and Central Asian studies at the Australian National University, told Al Jazeera.
But this loophole “really frees President Trump to pursue whatever strategy he has in mind,” Sackle said, referencing Trump’s 48-hour deadline for Iran to make a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz “before all hell breaks loose on them.” Trump has already threatened to bomb energy plants in Iran. Targeting civilian infrastructure is seen as a violation of the laws of war.
At least 2,076 people have been killed and 26,500 injured in Iran since February 28, when the US and Israel first attacked Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and several other senior military and political leaders.
The conflict has since escalated into a regional war and Iran has retaliated against Gulf states that host US military and commercial assets.
What happened to the missing airman?
The F-15E jet carrying two members was flying over southern Iran when it was shot down early Friday morning local time.
According to Tehran, the plane was shot down by Iran’s “new advanced air defense system”, which it said remained effective despite US claims that it had been destroyed.
It was the first time during the war, and the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that an American aircraft was shot down.
Washington immediately launched a rescue operation. Although the US military rescued one crew member hours after the crash, the second pilot, believed to be a colonel-rank weapons systems officer, had not yet been found.
At least one Black Hawk helicopter was hit in the initial rescue, but US officials said it managed to remain in the air.
Trump suggested that the US appeared to have located the airman and was keeping an eye on him as the rescue operation took place in an area with difficult, mountainous terrain, making physical recovery challenging.
An A-10 Warthog aircraft was also shot down near the Strait of Hormuz at about the same time as the F-15E, but its pilot was able to eject before the aircraft crashed and was later rescued. Iranian media reported that this plane was also hit by Iran’s defense system.
How did Iran react?
After the downing of the F-15E, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cordoned off parts of the mountainous southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province because they believed the airman had fallen in the surrounding area.
Iranian media also reported that parts of the southern Khuzestan region, an important energy hub, were being investigated. That area was the center of heavy US-Israeli attacks on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding dozens.
In a rare move, Iranian officials on Friday called on the public to help find and capture a missing US soldier. State media reported that Tehran has offered a $60,000 reward for the airman as state TV repeatedly showed footage showing the remains of the downed US plane.
Nomadic tribes in the area, heeding the call, set out to search for the American airmen. State media footage showed people carrying rifles and Iranian flags walking among the mountains in the country’s southwestern region.
Iranian officials said some of the men successfully fired at two American Black Hawks that were part of the rescue operation. The BBC also verified footage showing Iranians firing their rifles at American helicopters.
Nomadic groups in Iran and elsewhere commonly carry rifles to protect their cattle from wildfires and bandits.
The IRGC claimed on Sunday that Iranian forces destroyed two C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters during an operation to rescue the American pilot in southern Isfahan.
What did America do to bring back the soldier?
On Sunday morning, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that the missing soldier had been rescued in “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in American history.”
Trump said in his message, “This brave warrior was behind enemy lines in the dangerous mountains of Iran, being hunted by our enemies who were getting closer hour by hour, but never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, the Secretary of War, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and fellow war fighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning his rescue.”
The President revealed few details of the high-risk operation. He ordered dozens of planes carrying “lethal weapons” to be sent to retrieve the airman, who had managed to evade Iranian forces for two days. All the while, the US was keeping an eye on the airmen.
Although Trump did not provide details of the shooting, which is believed to have occurred while the US went to retrieve the airman and retrieve him, he confirmed that the officer suffered “sustained injuries” and said “he is going to be absolutely fine”.
Al Jazeera’s John Hendren said there was “heavy shelling”, which meant a “get in and get out” rescue operation, which went on for a long time.
While the U.S. Army had aimed to use the cover of night to conduct rescue operations after the airmen were captured, enemy fire extended the mission into daylight, making it more dangerous.
“We have heard what has been described as heavy gunfire,” Hendren said. “In the end, they managed to get that airman out of the country … and to safety, but it did not come without injuries, including injuries to the airman himself, but in the end, it allowed the United States to avoid a situation where they would have a prisoner of war inside Iran.”
Hendren said that according to officials, the U.S. had previously launched a disinformation campaign in Iran claiming that the airmen had already been rescued in order to jeopardize Iran’s discovery.
Iran has not yet confirmed the incident. Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the shooting appeared to have taken place in the Kohgiluyeh Boyer-Ahmad area, and that nine people were reported killed in the “attacks”, although it was unclear whether it was related to the US rescue mission.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials said Sunday morning that another US aircraft – a Lockheed C-130 Hercules – had been shot down.
America has not responded to those claims. During the rescue effort over the past 48 hours, at least one such aircraft, along with two small refueling helicopters, were seen flying low over southwestern Iran.
